These results indicate that immediate ingestion of CAF (6 mg·kg−1 body weight) can reduce the level of muscle fatigue and preserve leg power during the test, possibly resulting in increase in LAC. There was no increase in muscle damage, which indicates that immediate administration of (6 mg·kg−1 body weight) CAF is safe. Thus, nutritional interventions with CAF could help athletes withstand a greater physiological overload during high-intensity training sessions.

The results of this study would be applicable to sports and activities that require repetitive leg power.

What does this mean to you?

To properly follow the protocol used in the study, you need to ingest 6mg of caffeine per 1kg of body weight ( 2.72mg per 1lb of bodyweight)

There is approximately 100mg of caffeine in 1 cup of coffee

Which means that a 150lb trainee would need to drink 408mg or 4 cups of coffee before training….probably not the best idea if you don’t want to spend your workout in the bathroom.

As a result, you are going to need to purchase some caffeine pills if you want to take advantage of this caffeinated training boost.

And of course, not everyone’s GI tract is going to do well with all that caffeine.

BUT…if your gut is okay with a big dose of caffeine AND you’re looking to break through a training plateau, supplementing with caffeine immediately pre-workout could be exactly what you’re looking for.

NOTE: If you try this caffeine protocol, I would love to hear how it works for you. Feel free to contact me on Twitter or Facebook.

Catechin beverage consumption was associated with a significantly higher ventilation threshold during exercise and a higher recovery rate of oxygenated hemoglobin and myoglobin levels after graded cycle exercise when compared to subjects receiving the placebo beverage.

These results indicate that daily consumption of tea catechins increases aerobic capacity when combined with semiweekly light exercise, which may be due to increased skeletal muscle aerobic capacity.

Disclaimer:

This research was conducted by researchers who work for the Biological Science Laboratories of Kao Corporation….who just happen to sell a green tea fitness supplement beverage.

Which doesn’t mean that the science is bogus. Just something to be aware & skeptical of…just like any good scientist.

In green tea’s favor is a ton of science showing a wide range of health benefits associated with green tea catechins. IMHO, it isn’t unlikely that green tea catechins probably have a positive effect on your aerobic capacity. There just isn’t any science (other than this study) on this subject.

But there will be. If you’re interested, I have set up an PubMed feed for “green tea & aerobic capacity” Click on the link and you will have access to the latest published research on how green tea catechins improve (or don’t) aerobic capacity.

Researchers from Kyoto University have discovered that fish oil can switch your fat storage cells into fat burning cells.

Specifically, they found that consuming fish oil:

Activates receptors in your digestive tract which…

Engages your sympathetic nervous system…

Causing fat storage cells to metabolize your fat

Background Info

Fact #1. You have three types of fat cells

White fat – which stores calories and contributes to obesity

Brown fat – initially thought to exist only in babies, brown fat arises from infant muscles and is designed to help keep their little baby-bodies warm. “More recent imaging data suggested that adults, too, maintain some brown fat’.

Beige fat – similar looking to brown fat, beige fat doesn’t come from muscle, but is created by the “browning” of white fat in adult humans. It is found in “scattered pea-sized deposits beneath the skin near the collarbone and along the spine in adults”

Fact #2. Previous research has shown that fish oil has a number of powerful health benefits…including fat accumulation.

These two facts led the scientists at Kyoto U to investigate how fish oil and brown fat cells interacted.

The Study

Researchers fed a group of mice “fatty food” while feeding other mice “fatty food with fish oil additives.“

The researchers found that mice who ate the fish oil supplement gained 5-10% less weight and 15-25% less fat compared to the non-fish oil eating mice.

Unlike a lot of personal trainers, I am not a big fan of weight loss supplements.

In the 20+ years I have been transforming bodies, my clients have sculpted new bodies thanks to:

A total commitment to eating healthy, and

Exercising smarter.

However, there have always been a minority of clients that have needed some help in the form of supplements or pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately, in the past 5 – 10 years, that small percentage has been growing and growing.

I don’t know if it’s…

genetically modified foods,

the chemicals found in processed food,

a lifetime of poor food choices manifesting as broken metabolisms

Whatever it is, more and more of my clients NEED weight loss supplements to help boost the effectiveness of their new diet and fitness routines.

Because of this, I have put together a report of the top weight loss supplements for 2016.

Starting with a list of 30 popular weight loss compounds, I used the big data of Google Trends to identify the most popular weight loss supplements as decided by the millions of people who use Google to research weight loss supplements.

No marketing B.S.

No fraudulent claims from supplement companies

No advertorials masquerading as honest information

Just pure data collected by the giant brains at Google.

With all that data, I was able to identify:

The top weight loss supplements for 2015, and more importantly

The projected top weight loss supplements for 2016.

SO….HOW DO YOU GET THE REPORT?

If you are an email subscriber to @healthhabits, you don’t have to do anything. A copy of the report should be sitting in your inbox right now. If not, shoot me an email, and I will get one to you asap.

If you don’t already subscribe to @healthhabits email updates, hit the button below, follow the sign-up procedure and a report will be flying to your inbox in mere seconds.

Millions of dollars are spent by manufacturers on advertising and marketing. Luckily for them, billions of dollars are spent by consumers.

And when you subtract millions from billions, you end up with a lot of profit. And, there’s nothing wrong with that…as long as the customer is getting the results they paid for.

Q: So, do consumers get what they pay for?

A: In my experience, the short answer is NO.

Most supplements over-promise and under-deliver. But, not all….

These are the supplements and supplement companies that I think are worthy of your trust and your money.

Note – If you are interested in purchasing any of these supplements, click on the image of the supplement and you will be taken to my Amazon store. Any purchases made through the Amazon store earns Health Habits a 4% commission. Thanks in advance.

General Health

Multi-Vitamins

Most multivitamins and nutritional supplements are synthetic, chemically isolated nutrients that lack the natural beneficial compounds of a whole-food complex.

New Chapter multi-vitamins are made with 100% organic ingredients. But, unlike most multis, New Chapter’s nutrients are food. In fact, they are a whole-food complex, rich with thousands of health-giving, whole-food phytonutrients found in nature. They do not believe that people were designed to eat mega-dosages of synthetic chemicals.

They believe that your nutrients should come in the form of cultured whole food so that you get the full benefit of Nature’s wisdom. New Chapter’s nutrients are cultured in probiotics — the healthy bacteria every human body needs. Probiotics are naturally prevalent in select foods such as yogurt, red wine and sauerkraut.

Greens

Sticking with the whole-food v.s synthetic nutrients argument, we have Vege Greens.

Vege Greens is a combination of over 60 land, sea and cruciferous vegetables, as well as super green foods, EFAs, pre and probiotics, enzymes and herbal extracts. One little scoop is equivalent to six to eight servings of vegetables, and offers a full spectrum of nutrient rich and highly alkaline foods.

And unlike most Green Foods, Vege Greens doesn’t taste like a mouthful of grass.

And like New Chapter, the manufacturer of Vege Greens (Progressive Nutritional) has incredibly high professional standards. At this time, I would have no problem recommending any of their products.

Unfortunately, even with this passionate support, Vitamin D suffers from a lack of mainstream acceptance.

And that’s too bad.

Vitamin D has powerful health benefits and costs next to nothing to purchase. It’s a no-brainer.

Garlic

Researchers have found that aged garlic extract (AGE) has hepatoprotective (protects the liver),immune-enhancing, anticancer and chemopreventive (disease preventative) activities. Furthermore, AGE is a potent antioxident.

It also makes your breath stink.

But, not Kyolic AGE supplements.

All the health benefits with none of the stinkiness. WIN-WIN

Anti-Inflammatories

Zyflamend

Zyflamend was my introduction to New Chapter.

A few years ago, I was suffering from chronic pain in one of my shoulders.

The cause of my pain?

Too many years of lifting very heavy weights with very little warm-up. (nothing like being in your twenties – invincible & stupid)

My orthopedist gave me 3 options:

arthroscopic surgery to clean things up a bit

cortisone

take drugs for the pain

Being the contrary type of guy that I am, I went for option #4 and researched natural ways to bring down inflammation. And that’s how I found Zyflamend
New Chapter’s patented Zyflamend formulation represents a scientific breakthrough in promoting a healthy inflammation response. After extensively researching the herbal pharmacopoeia and international medical databases, New Chapter discovered that a number of time-tested herbs, properly extracted and blended in the correct proportions, contain at least 8 phytonutrients that may safely and significantly promote a healthy inflammation response.

Recent research studies suggest reducing the inflammatory response may be an effective strategy to promote healthy joint function and normal cell growth.
My shoulder is all better now, but I continue to supplement with Zyflamend because of the overall health benefits associated with reducing systemic inflammation. You should too.

Adaptogens

According to the CDC, up to 90% of doctor visits in the US are stress related.

National Institutes of Health adds that chronic stress may shorten life expectancy up to 20 years.

But, before you get all stressed out about your stress, there is a solution.

For thousands of years, people have relied upon adaptogens (plant derived agents that help to adapt the body or protect it from stress) to help them cope with life’s little stresses.

These 3 adaptogen supplements from New Chapter have been unbelievably useful in helping some of my clients incorporate healthy living & eating into their lives. Those people who suffer from emotional eating receive a huge benefit from these supplements.

The next product, Rhodiola Force is made up of a single adaptogen – Rhodiola rosea

Rhodiola is widely considered to be the most powerful of all adaptogens.

Thriving in high altitudes and in nature’s most challenging climates, this most resilient herbal is intensively studied for enhancing concentration and endurance, uplifting one’s mental state, and supporting optimal immune, adrenal, and cardiovascular function even under conditions of severe stress.

The third adaptogen supplement, Holy Basil, has been a staple of ayurvedic medicine for centuries.

When New Chapter was researching Holy Basil, they wanted to know why people find that Holy Basil promotes a positive stress response and elevates their spirit. Ayurvedic masters told them that “Holy Basil delivers nutrients to the mind necessary for the experience of enlightenment.”

Enlightenment. baby

Digestive Enzymes

Enzymes are one of the most underutilized nutritional supplements.

And that’s a big mistake.

Without enzymes, we could not exist. Our bodies’ reactions would be too slow for life to be possible. The human body makes and uses more than 3,000 kinds of enzymes that speed up chemical reactions and save energy. Digestive enzymes are like scissors that cut up the foods we eat into basic building blocks that our body then absorbs and reassembles to build cells, tissues, organs glands and entire body systems.

If our digestion is compromised then so is our health. Many enzymes on the market today are made from animal organs – hog stomach, bovine pancreas, lamb forestomach etc. These individual animal enzymes work only in a narrow pH range, and are usually only capable of digesting protein or fat.

Udo’s Choice Enzyme Blends, however, are broad spectrum plant and microbially derived enzyme supplements that have a wide pH range of activity, allowing it to function throughout the entire digestive tract.

Probiotics

There are several reasons that people are interested in probiotics for health purposes.

First, the world is full of microorganisms (including bacteria), and so are people’s bodies—in and on the skin, in the gut, and in other orifices.

Friendly bacteria are vital to proper development of the immune system, to protection against microorganisms that could cause disease, and to the digestion and absorption of food and nutrients. Each person’s mix of bacteria varies. Interactions between a person and the microorganisms in his body, and among the microorganisms themselves, can be crucial to the person’s health and well-being.

This bacterial “balancing act” can be thrown off in two major ways:

By antibiotics, when they kill friendly bacteria in the gut along with unfriendly bacteria. Some people use probiotics to try to offset side effects from antibiotics like gas, cramping, or diarrhea. Similarly, some use them to ease symptoms of lactose intolerance—a condition in which the gut lacks the enzyme needed to digest significant amounts of the major sugar in milk, and which also causes gastrointestinal symptoms.

“Unfriendly” microorganisms such as disease-causing bacteria, yeasts, fungi, and parasites can also upset the balance. Researchers are exploring whether probiotics could halt these unfriendly agents in the first place and/or suppress their growth and activity in conditions like:

Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), a bacterium that causes most ulcers and many types of chronic stomach inflammation

Tooth decay and periodontal disease

Vaginal infections

Stomach and respiratory infections that children acquire in daycare

Skin infections

Another part of the interest in probiotics stems from the fact there are cells in the digestive tract connected with the immune system. One theory is that if you alter the microorganisms in a person’s intestinal tract (as by introducing probiotic bacteria), you can affect the immune system’s defenses.

Performance / Specialty Supplements

We have finished with the supplements that I think are important for your overall health.

This occurs because creatine has the awesome effect of super-hydrating muscle cells with water. It also enhances muscle growth – making muscle fibers bigger and stronger.
Warning – Cheap creatine can cause significant intestinal distress and cause some serious bloating.

Allmax creatine has never let me down.

Leucine

Way back in October of 2008, I wrote about leucine and it’s ability to turn back age related muscle loss (buy a tub for grandpa).

According to the research:

Leucine stimulates new muscle growth

Leucine is the major amino acid responsible for the muscle producing capability of food

Adding leucine to a meal increases muscle growth by 50 to 70 percent

Leucine works best when taken with a mixed carb / protein meal. This is due to the insulin surge that comes from the carbohydrates in the meal, and the other essential amino acids that are present.

Leucine does not work as well with carb-only or protein-only meals

The change in leucine levels in the blood seems to be more important than the overall amount. Therefore, it is better to take a small serving of leucine with a meal (level of leucine increases), wait a few hours (let the leucine levels drop), and then take another serving with some food (levels increase again).

Leucine supplementation has also shown to be effective as a supplement for athletes interested in adding functional muscle mass.

So, the plan is to take a small scoop (5g) of leucine with each meal of the day. (up to a max of 20g)

This supplement has worked wonders for my hard-gainers.

Branch Chain Amino Acids

You can’t go wrong with BCAAs.

Add them to protein shakes when you’re trying to gain muscle

Drink them at night when you’re dieting to preserve muscle mass

Simple. Powerful. You can’t go wrong

Okay…that’s the list. Feel free to hit me up on Twitter or Facebook if you have any comments, questions or complaints.

On April 8, 2008, Canada’s federal government tabled bill Bill C-51, designed to “modernize the Food and Drugs Act”.

The Bill “proposes to maintain a rigorous assessment of health products prior to making them available. In addition, we’re proposing to gain the ability to continuously monitor the safety of products even after they are approved”.

Sounds good.

We don’t want any tainted vitamins, herbs, etc, getting into the marketplace. And if they do, the government has taken the power and responsibility of recall from the manufacturers and given it to themselves.

So, essentially what the government is doing is asking the natural health product industry to prove that their products will do no harm. Once proven, manufacturers will be able to make claims of efficacy like the pharmaceutical industry.

This may even improve the business model for nutritional supplements in Canada. Vetted health claims might increase the legitimacy of the industry in the public’s eye. And yet, something doesn’t seem right with this piece of legislation.

Here is my problem with Bill C-51 – What are they protecting us from?

In 2006, the U.S. reported one death associated with the ingestion of vitamins. Specifically, it was an unknown vitamin & it was reported that while the vitamin played a part, it was unlikely that it was the cause of death. How they would know that if the vitamin was unknown, I will never know.

Compare that to the 2006 data for Pharmaceutical deaths. The full report is here.

Here are the Pharmaceutical Categories associated with largest number of fatalities (Top 25)